I can't stand it anymore--gotta ask.

[riverkeeper]

Until 79 I lived and mostly hiked in the east, AT n stuff like that ... kelties, SD Glacier tent, old mesh tents, tube tents, under a poncho, sleepin out, no pad, Svea 123, cooking fires, cookin from scratch, cut offs n T shirts, shelters to yourself, v few hikers, in tennies etc. I was introduced to this by a seriously hardcore minimalist, my uncle, so initially didn't even carry this stuff.

In 98 I hiked for a few hundred miles on the AT again with my uncle ... things had changed. Trail Towns, Spring Migration, festivals, trail magic, yogi-ing, trail names, hoopla, Trail gossip jabber and gear jabber.

No Big Deal ... all that is interesting, progress, entertaining, fun and some of it iMho a little silly (cuz I am an old fart).

To the point, which eventually mentions hammocks I promise.

The old way for me was often damp, cool, solitary, uncomfortable but in a strange way close to the reality of nature as a result of its direct effects .. and not always fun but always a ''learning experience''.
I mostly prefer how it is today in the PNW at least. My complete but currently almost minimalist gear (by today's standards) weighs about the same or less than the minimalist old timey stuff which didn't include such wonderful sleeping arrangements as my hammock(s), reliable little stove, decent rain gear, synthetic quick dry light weight clothes and good food.
Somethings been lost but other more important things gained ... instead of fighting, suffering or accomodaing wilderness to get thru it, I get to leisurely see it, smell it, hear it, study it for a different kind of learning experience ... I get to feel it without discomfort and anxiety....like the joys of marriage wo the arguments.

At the end of Huck Finn he said he didn't end up where he thought and wished he hadn't started ... that happened with this post.

I was going to ask about what estimated percent of BPrs in the east use hammocks. I see well over a thousand hiker-campers each year ... total of 4 hammock campers + 2 off duty hammock camping rangers who I got started....since 04. That's 4 out of est 4800 = .08% Most everyone on the forum is from the Midwest and East and South.

In 2001 I noted 2 women from the Nantahala Outdoor Center, NC at Mt Rainier wearing Waldies (early Crocs), we got some for camp shoes. A very few PNW stores started to sell them in 05 and REI started I recall in 06.

We in the PNW enjoy lots of GOOD cups of coffee and it's dark and wet more than half the year.... maybe that's destroyed lots of brain cells to dim all the bulbs on our chantileers. Are we on the short bus?

[bear bag hanger]

As to percentage of eastern hikers with hammocks, I'm going to guess it's still pretty small, but growing every year. Last year I hiked about 250 miles and saw a little more than a hundred hikers, of which maybe ten had hammocks. That would be a little less than ten percent, but I think that's high. Personally, I don't look forward to the day everyone has hammocks. It would make it really hard to find trees to hang from!

[warbonnetguy]

it's still a relativly newer concept. people will catch on faster and faster the more of us there are. most folks just don't really know about it. we are still in our infancy here. we're just a small group of enlightened ones. everyone else will eventually come around. i am living in Colorado now, and it does seem that there are very few of us out here too, but even in this drier environment that i'm in, i can still hang. the pnw is ideal for hammocks, i'm surprised you don't see more of us out there, but i think you eventually will.

[daibutsu]

These posts, like an earlier thread eagerly hoping that the Boy Scouts would embrace Hammocking, are all well intentioned, but the reality is that if Hammocking were as popular as tenting, we would eventually be outlaws. It really doesn't behoove us to go out recruiting. Sure it benefits the manufacturers and ancillarily may benefit us in more products, but the total effect would be negative. On the C&O canal, already there is a prohibition against hammocks, I have to pitch an old cheap dome tent as a 'red herring,' and scoot into my nearby hammock after dark.

[schrochem]

On the C&O canal, already there is a prohibition against hammocks, I have to pitch an old cheap dome tent as a 'red herring,' and scoot into my nearby hammock after dark.

That's a good one!
I'll have to remember it....

[Coffee]

I think it is slowly getting bigger. It will never be a huge share. It isn't for some, and others don't want to give it a try. I think there are a lot of people that try it once, and give up without putting time into figuring it out. My main reason for thinking that is the large number of hh that always seem for sale.

I did see maybe 20 or so last year.

[BillyBob58]

it's still a relativly newer concept. people will catch on faster and faster the more of us there are. most folks just don't really know about it. we are still in our infancy here. we're just a small group of enlightened ones. everyone else will eventually come around. i am living in Colorado now, and it does seem that there are very few of us out here too, but even in this drier environment that i'm in, i can still hang. the pnw is ideal for hammocks, i'm surprised you don't see more of us out there, but i think you eventually will.

Last year, for one week in PNW ( Olympics Hoh River), I saw no other hammocks, just one other in my group of 4. Year before in Wyoming's Wind Rivers, my first time in a hammock, same thing. Just us 2 along with the 2 ground dwellers.
The only time I've seen other hammock's was at Neo's Fall get together in TN last Oct.
Bill

[BillyBob58]

These posts, like an earlier thread eagerly hoping that the Boy Scouts would embrace Hammocking, are all well intentioned, but the reality is that if Hammocking were as popular as tenting, we would eventually be outlaws. It really doesn't behoove us to go out recruiting. Sure it benefits the manufacturers and ancillarily may benefit us in more products, but the total effect would be negative. On the C&O canal, already there is a prohibition against hammocks, I have to pitch an old cheap dome tent as a 'red herring,' and scoot into my nearby hammock after dark.

Yeah, I worry about that also. But as we increase in numbers, I only hope that we can convince the powers that be that we do less environmental damage than a ground dweller. I think my back yard hang spot, over a mud bog all winter, is proof of that. That would be one mess ( basically undo-able) with a tent.

[riverkeeper]

Thanks for the interesting input .... esp about how things would change if everyone hung.

Conclusion .. I'm on the big bus and almost everyone else is on the short bus and I want to keep it that way.

[GREEN THERAPY]

My Son in law started me in trying a hammock and thankfully it was mid summer or I would have probably given up. The real trick to converting someone to hammocks is making it a warm ( key word being warm ) experience. The comfort is built into the design so its just a case of finding the type of hammock that suits best.

What started out as just him and I in hammocks has now grown to 5 of us and I think this summer will increase at least double. If you provide a first time hanger with warmth and comfort they are hooked.....